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Gellert started her career at American Express, working there as a summer intern and then spending 15 years there. And going from that — a major, publicly traded company — to a startup of 100 people was a big change.

“At large companies, it takes a long time to feel the impact of what you do,” she said. “What difference does one person make at a large company?”

Since she came to OnDeck in 2012, Gellert has seen small businesses benefit from her work. She mentioned one restaurant in Mareille, Ill., that is popular among the local hunting and fishing crowd. The owner wanted a loan to upgrade his kitchen before hunting season but was turned down at his local bank.

After that happened, the owner found OnDeck and received the loan he needed the same day he applied. He was able to get his kitchen ready for hunting season and saw a 15 percent increase in sales.

OnDeck, which is based in New York and received an A+ Better Business rating, was launched in 2007 to finance Main Street with technology used to evaluate businesses based on performance instead of personal credit.